Currently, it is possible for consumers to receive mobile telecommunications services at below market prices in exchange for receiving and interacting with advertisements directed to the consumers' mobile telecommunications devices. Even more so, there are business models and operators in the global market offering such mobile telecommunications services free of charge when a consumer elects to receive and possibly interact with paid advertisements. This is often referred to as mobile marketing.
Mobile marketing is considered by advertisers as the next new channel to directly reach consumers since it utilizes core assets and characteristics of the mobile media. Specifically, it is personal in that it is directed solely to individual consumers, it is “always on”, can reach the consumers whenever they access their communications devices and wherever they are, and it is mobile. Moreover, mobile marketing often results in the formation of groups of people who communicate actively with each other. It is now envisioned that these characteristics combined with social network-based approaches of the Internet could form a very powerful base to execute marketing and advertising strategies.
In a typical mobile marketing or advertising arrangement, there is a set of consumers with certain profiles. These are target consumers for the advertisements, forming a target audience or target profile group. In a typical business arrangement, an advertiser selects the target audience to which the advertisement is to be delivered using a web-based tool or interface (with preferred profiles). The mobile marketing messages or advertisements are delivered to consumers in the target profile group using one or more mobile communication networks.